Case filed, probe on after fake bail orders on Raj HC website
Jodhpur, Nov. 5 -- Three fake judicial orders granting and extending bail to an accused in an NDPS case were uploaded to the Rajasthan high court's official website to facilitate his release, prompting the registration of a criminal conspiracy case and an internal inquiry into a breach of the court's website, officials said on Wednesday.
Registrar (Judicial) Narendra Kumar has lodged a complaint at Kudi Bhagtasani police station in Jodhpur following the discovery of the fake orders concerning Kalvinder Singh Panesar, 53, a Punjab resident arrested in connection with the alleged seizure of 8.061 kg of opium in Sri Ganganagar district.
Jodhpur police commissioner Anshuman Bhomia said the investigation into the case had been assigned to the station house officer (SHO) of Vivek Vihar police station. "A case of criminal conspiracy has been registered in connection with the uploading of three fake orders on the high court's website to facilitate bail for Kalvinder Singh Panesar. Relevant sections of the Information Technology Act have also been invoked," he said.
The court administration's IT cell has separately initiated an internal inquiry into the breach of its website, which is otherwise considered secure, officials said.
The three fake orders, dated October 12, October 15 and October 26, purportedly dealt with Panesar's interim and regular bail applications.
The October 26 regular bail order, bearing the name of justice Chandra Shekhar Sharma, cited Panesar's medical condition, including prostatic hyperplasia and significantly elevated liver fat, besides alleged procedural lapses in seizure and sampling, delays in forensic examination and discrepancies in the seizure timeline based on call detail records.
The fake orders had earlier raised questions over their authenticity after discrepancies emerged in their registration numbers and other details.
Advocate Kailash Khilery, who represented Panesar in the May 6 interim bail proceedings, said he had subsequently filed a regular bail application on his behalf so that it could be argued after the 30-day interim bail period ended. However, after Panesar failed to surrender following expiry of the interim bail, Khilery decided not to press the regular bail application.
Khilery said Panesar had remained absconding since the expiry of his interim bail. His son Manpreet Singh, who had arrived from Canada, subsequently took the case file from him after obtaining a no-objection certificate.
The fake October 26 order had prompted Khilery to contact the court staff of justice Sharma's single bench for verification. He said Justice Sharma was sitting in a division bench that day and no single-bench cause list showing the matter was available....
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